The Sun. — London, England, 1826-05-19 00:00:00

thought it impassible that a Commission could have been formed of men of longer experience, of greater talent, or of more habitual acquaintance with the points requiring investigation. Then it was said that their prejudices were of such a nature, as to preclude the possibility of their decisions leading to any im e • , portant result. Now, he begged to appeal to all who had at e tended to the conduct of the Commissioners, to some wins were bis friends, and to some with whom he generally differed •mpon political questions, and he would confidently ask them vtether they had ever witnessed, •• in any inquiry whatever, ,a &eater portion of fairness, liberality, and candour. Ile was not one of the Commission, but be had not been an inattentive ob erv.er of its proceedings; and 1w would take upon hiniself to say, ' that no anggestien -of abuse was ever made, but it received immediate and Ample. attention, it was impossible for the Couniiisaitiners to pursue a mere- judicious course than they had - dome inelayiag, the evideuce before • the • House. If that evi . deuce heho ou the table, the day after the bringing . up of. the -114aort, some Honourable Gentleman would certainly totve moved for the printing of the whole of it. If they had selected such portions of the evidence as they might deem most' • clear and ivatructive, they would be charged with having garbled the subject, They therefore could obviate all objection only by eying the whole body of the evidence before the Howe. To thin course he could not anticipate any objection from his Hen. 41113 Learned Friend the Member for Winclieleea ; for that Hon. ' Gentleman, had said on a former occasion, that he hoped °armament would nut be satisfied with barely furnishing a MOW, but that they would lay before the House all the evi dent. He thought himself bound to state the manner in which - the Commissioners received the evidence presented to them.— Mori requested the attendance of all those who were best caleu . kited to furnish information on the subject of their inquiry ; but `they im no instance refused the evidence of any individual who had . atry complaint to make • or any stiggestion to offer. Further, to rovezit the possibility of mistake, after the e v id e nce was taken down,a copy of it was transmitted to the witness, that its cor redness might be completely ascertained. The Commission was all through conducted with au anxioto desire on the part of the members who compwed it, to remedy whatever abuses or delays might be found to exist in the practice of the Court of Chancery. —llere, it was important to consider, what had been thrown out on this subject as to a more extensive reform. Some there were who held that the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery ought to be entirely abolished, as being an encroachment upon the Corn , 'coon Law of the country . N ow, if t hi s op i n i on were well lostaded, the labours of the Commissioner* had been altogether • misdirected. Instead of enquiring into the abuses which pre ' veiled; and applying, appropriate remedies, their business simply was to aboli s h th e w h o l e jurisdiction. Now, with a view to • .a fide consideration of the subject, he hoped the House would • indulge' him while he proceeded to point out some of the principal objects of that •juristiejion, and those objects would stuffiCiently demonstrate the necessity of th.r jurisdiction itself.— qu'the - first place, then, all real property vested in trusts was . exclusively an object of _Equity Jurisdiction, as related to en forcinkthe perforinanee of those trusts. Personal property alio was frequently , vested in a similar way for express and im plied trusts of :infinite variety. It was clearly necessary that jurisdiction ..elsuld somewhere exist to• enforce the perform ance of those 'trusts ; but a Court 4f Common Law had no such jurisdiction. Again, it was right that a power should reside somewhere to issue injunctions, in the several eases; which re spared such relief. To instance a single case : whe n a copyright was invaded, at common law, after the delay perhaps oho year, damages might be recovered for the injury sustained ; but in the interval of that long period the injury went on uninterrupted : .sad he knew no remedy which could be opposed to the evil, but that which lay within the province of a Court of Equity. Again, the specific performance of contracts formed another subject for the exercise of the Chancellor's jurisdiction. Here, 'too, damages tr non-performance might be awarded at common - Jaw ; but•the remedy was frequently quite inadequate: for if a party became insolvent, the plaintiff was left altogether without • relief, as the law courts had no power to compel specific perform ance; and hence appeared the necessity of a jurisdiction capable of affording the proper redress. Neither could accounts between partners b litigated in a Court of Common Law. • They each,- • sively belonged to the jurisdiction of a Court of Equity, as did also the infinite 'nirober of cases relating to fraudulent transac tloas,—for a Common Law Court could not compel an instrument obtained by fraud to be delivered up in order to be cancelled.-- ...All cases too regarding infanta and married women could only. 4 entertained in Equity, and when so many and important in terests were to be served, he would put it to the House whether a jurisdiction by which they were guarded, could be dispensed with. The question now presented itself, by what Courts that -, uristlictien ought to he exercised. It was plain that the juris dictina must either continue to reside as heretofore, in a separate I,:eirrt, or it must be engrafted on the Courts of Common Law. the latter course Wars to be preferred, according to the cog gestions of some, they' mast necessarily double the number of lorrartion Law Courts to meet the emisequetit increase or Wed ./rem, and those Courts should alternately bear Equity Causes one day. aud Common Law causes another; so that even then the juris elietious though nominally the same would -he really distinct. Again, it should be centidered that great attention mutt be paid to the Common I.aw in order to the due administration of justice. No less attention•waa necessary for a proper discharge of duty is the' Courta of Equity, the administration of which was quite different from the former, and if they united the systems, could Itbe expected that the Judges could poems the same erten -sire information which they did while the jurisdictions were separate: Purauing the suggestion thrown out by an Honour able Friend near him, he would adVert to an instance of the united jurisdiction, as it existed in the Court of Exchequer —not jeitlead in its present state, but as it was constituted up to the *riorie. of the last century. Now while that Court possessed a double jurisdiction, every one who was concerned in a common law case wished to have it tried in the Court of King's. Bench ra ther than in the Exchequer; and the stilton, in Equity causes gave a similar preference, to , .the Court of Chancery. The in- . convenience arising from the mixture of the two systems was las s great, that an ifonourable . Member on the other aide of the Douse once brought is a Bill, the object of which was to separate the jurisdictions; and the consequence eventually was arrangemenfaccording. to which the Chief Baron held the Juriedfction in s separate Court, while the other threes in smother nourt presided only in cases of Common Law. if then the Jurisdiction were admitted to be necessary, and if it ought to be *operate, could they, he would ask, eitaner oubstatice of the machinery of that jurisdicti o n, oluni-ly, the proceeding by bill of complaint and answer upon oeth. •Alte.r but that, and the whole jurisdiction was destroyed. _Hew to what points was it necessary, that the attention of the romomiseionere should be-directed. It was impossible for them vt cuppose, that the jurisdictions should not be held in separate Courts, or that the proceedings should not commence by bill and answer. Laying this down as a principle, they directed their attention to those which had the strongest claim upon it. grhen they found complaints of expence arid delay, they rati onally-amid " let us examine the proceedings from the begin ning to the end of a suit, and correct the defects as they pre seat themvelvm." Thus far hie observations were of a general nature, but they were necessary as tending to show the judi cious conduct of the Commissioners in the course of their investigation. Ha now, eiglie to detail the particulars of .their erimination. They ~ began with the Aubpatua. The com plaint against this was, that it conveyed no certain informa tion to unlettered men, to whom it might happen to be directed. nil Objection the Cornmiasionere obviated by rendering the lineage of the auhweint clear And intelligible,, so as• to explain the precise object which it was designed to effect. The time al lowed foe entering an appearance, formed another ground of cemplaiat. , la a town cause the prescribed time was abort, but in eelenetey tine, it Was long. In the latter case, they corrected due evil by abridging the - time ; and parties were bound to appear, not indeed 440 apeeigyeer hi 'it town cause, but on a day specified. According to the present tireitiee, when a defendant neglected to Appear, an attachment domed, and being committed thereupon, hr was brou3b4 tgi,to the ,Court hy habeas Corpus. If he Still refusal to appear, an AppoTuace was entered - for him. Th e conunisnansre, however,'Elieroftig the habeas:corpus an unneces sary' proceeding, hemmed the eapence and delay by enter in ii ppear e nce fot-‘the 'defendant Immediately MI his being taken into custody. After the appearene.e was entered, it was big* important that a. fair s , time should be a ll owe d f or p e tt i ng iio awnswer. r t hat this time should be neither too little,tior sob great; - :;and 'the regulation accordingly made limited the period to ten weeks' in a country cause, and eight weeks in a town eause. Hitherto; when a party refused to answer, he was actsehed ; a habeas corpus then 'timed, upon which he was brought up. ' If be still refused to answer, he was committed to the neat. An Aticii-Wilt ;. *Was then Served ,ppou him, and i n cases hit persistintqO' rear, then a Plurfes, and, finally, an A Nag Piuries ; aitl Wei if cm Answer were filed, the Bill was taheiepee emiessn. Oil evident that aU these procoed a ingta were quite uti neeemary ; tot when the defendant was esued cuAL - niy, why n o 'ntd ecessions he - ,afihrded him to repeat hts divoliedienes? 'The Cohitukailoners, therefore, conaiklerl it to al Flowed the defendant for the 4hortest time 611 4'' firms,iia sowsr. 1,74,0 brought up, and on h is n e g lecting to put it in,',.the Bill 4,14 Itteo to be talcln 62/e_l."' Aga i n , 4 01 Tinsiurthe attachment pot Fie executed, and ' the return of Ale Mesa 4be e pus asierrnadiatu pro -o)twit• - - ; ; 1 ; , ceedings, a Commission of Rebellion was issued, and finally, a sequestration. Now all these complicated details were removed bp the Commissioners. As to the case of an answer filed, every one knew that answers in equity were frequently evasive in their character, and it was of course necessary that there should be a power to compel a clear one. The plaintiff accordingly had a right to except to an answer; and the exceptions were then ar gued before a Muster. But if the Master decided in favour of the exceptions, the defendant could appeal to the Vice-Chaneellor, and after the expiretion of three terms the decision of the latter might confirm the Master's report. In order to show what the Commissioners had done, he was bound to state the practice of the Court as it existed.—(Hear, - Itear, !)-:-Froin the Vice-Chen cellor's decildon an appeal 1.. y to the Lord Chancellor; and after considerable delay the previous decision was again confirmed.* Still the party appeeling might if he pleased resort to the House of Lords, and when- a year and a half elapsed, their Lordships might finally decide that the defendant's answer was not sufficient, and the only consequence was that he was then. obliged to file an other answer. For this purpose he had the same time which was originally all Owed for his first answer ; and after all, his second answer might ultimately be decided to he insufficient. , Not until the same dirision was ;tamed upon his third answer was it impe rative on him to put in a sufficient one. In each successive case, the same round ut delay remained to be gone through in appeals from the Muster to the Vice-Chancellor, front the Vice- Chancellor to the Lord Chancellor, and from him eventually to the House of Lords. It was only after three tinter, and on filing his fourth answer, that the defendant was hound to put in a good 'and sufficient answer on pain of being taken into custody. He• did not say that all defendants availed them selves of these delays; but it was competent for any one who pleased to der so according to a state of practice which existed itt the time of Lord Chancellors Bacon, Nottingham, Somers, Cambden, Hardwicke, and which continued up to the present day. The question of Exceptions was one of exteme import ance, and by the regulation of the Commissioners the decision of the Master was to be final. Moreover on deciding he was to prescribe the time within which the defendant was bound to put in a further answer. If the second answer were not sufficient the Master again was to decide ' • and. on the insuffi cieney of the third answer the party w as t o be committed to cus tody. There was indeed a diversity of opinion as to the power with which the master was thus invested ; but if he obtained leave to bring in the Bill, they would have time to consider that among other points of detail at a future stage, On this point the Commissioners conceived that the Master ought to decide, unless in such cases as be thought too important, anti which be would therefore refer to a higher tribunal. Here it was observable how greatly the Commissioners abridged the usual course of proceedings. In some instances it happened, that after an answer was filed, the plaintiff could go no further, the answer being full, and derisive of the whole cause. But even in such a case the hill could not be dismissed for less than three quarters of. a year, • and the de fendant during all that time was left unrelieved. And if then the plaintiff took a mere formal step by tiling a replication, the suit endured for three quarters of a year longer without any further proceeding. Even then, if the plaintiff camel forward and said, "I undertake to speed the enuee," he thereby gained an additional term ; after the lapse of which he bad only to say, " I now undertake to speed the cause with effect," and another term was granted him for the purpose. Surely this called for a remedy.--,-(Hear, hear, hear. )—The Commissioners abridged all that unnecessary time to a single tel In common law there were generally but few issues; but in Equity very many issues constantly arose between the various parties, who were necessarily included : and therefore no just comparison could be instituted between the duration of a suit in both jurisdictions. Another evil was, that almost in the last stage, and on the : eve of a Bill being dismissed, a party might say, " I am advised to emend," and then on his paying nominal reside of a few shillings, the cause began de novo with all its complicated proceedings. Now, here the Commiesioners said to such party, " You shall not amend after a certain stage, nor mo re th an once , un l ess. f or goo d and sub itantial reasons." Another check to the practice of amendment was, that the party who hitherto paid only nominal costs was now bound to pay the full costs of the amendment, which must tend to prevent an abuse of the power. Thus far he hoped for the support of the lion. Member for Caine, who on it former oc casion said that much might be done by a Committee in abridg ing the course of a cause from its commencement to its conclusion. As to theitroceedings in Equity, when the plaintiff complained by Bill, end answer was filed, if the parties required it, evidence might then be taken before en Examiuer in writing, and lowing been so taken it then went before the Judge. In questions of account, debt, and other points which could not well be investi gated in Court, reference was made to the Master, who reported thereupon to the Court, and then the cause was in a state fur final hearing and decision. The evidence was a very material' point. 'Ss/lieu parties were at bailee, it was the practice for rat Examiner to take down the evidence upon interrogatories pre viously prepared, and there was consequently no viva veer evi dence. (laving been brought op in the Courtm, of Common Law he had been naturally against that mode of taking evidence. — But on cdosideration he WAS induced to alter his opinion, on a conviction that no advantage would be derived from a change in the practice, but on the contrary that it would he attended with some inconvenience. No advantage could fol low from viva coca testimony, for the evidence could nut be heard by the judge without new-modelling the whole system, and doubling or trebling the number of Judges. So that if the system should still continue, and a Commissioner be etnployed, all the advantage derivable from viva race evidence would be lost, and the cause should be sent to a jury to try the issue. The evils attending the change would be an increase in the expellee and the length of the examinations. Ile had himself witnessed much confusion in evidence taken before Commissioners of Bankrupt. It was, therefore, better to adhere to the system, such as it at present existed, than to resort to another, however plausible in appearance. yet productive of certain inconvenience. It was remarkable, that in the evidence taken before the Com missioners, one Gentleman of high character (Mr. Bell) declared that he never knew of dissatisfaction arising from the decision of a Judge, when be undertook to decide on a point of fact. There was also a remarkable coincidence between the opinion of that acute and intelligent gentleman and that expressed on the same subject in another place, four or five years ago, by Mr. Kemp, the 'Chief Justice of New York . . [The. Hon. Gentlemen then read the opinion of Mr. Kemp, which was in accordance with the an swer of Mr. Bell.] It was proposed by the Commissioners that there should be no change for the admisision of oral evidence ; but on this head an opportunity would be afforded for the expression of other opinions. When points arose which should be referred to a Muster, the inquiry before him could not, from its nature, be short, us in the case of complicated questions of title, of debts, and other, subjects of detail.. The Commissioner*, however; took care that uo tune should be lost. At 'present the great cause of delay was with the Master, because he was merely passive, and eat to decide when the partite' came before him. If it so happened that be decided in the absence of a party, the latter might ap ply as of course fur a re-heering. Now, when the cause of an evil was found, the remedy, generally speaking, was easy. So it was in the present case; the evil was removed by arming the hands of the Master, awl this was done by the Commissioners. The decree was made returnable within six weeks before the Master. According to the present practice, between an appeal from the Vice Chancellor to the Chancellor, a cloud. of new affidavits usually intervened, 80 that the Chancellor really de cided on a new cause. The very 'Ware of appeal called in ques tion the judgment of the inferior tribunal, but from the accidental circumstance of a supposed identity between the Chancellor and the Vice Chancellor, new matter was permitted to be intro. duced on re-hearing of a cause, and thence flowed_ much incon venience. Ile felt sure of the concurrence of the Honourable Member for Caine, that in future there should he no appeal but On *same facts before submitted ; and its effect would be to diminish the number. of appeals. ' The number of Counsel, too, would be diminished ; and though he vgretted this circum stance for the sake of the junior part of the profession, he felt convinced that that public spirited body would submit with alacrity to a regulation which had the general benefit fur. its object. In page 120 of the Report, the untidier of Coons,' in one case, the Bankruptcy of Howard and Gibbs was stated to be seven on one side, and five on the other. In 'mother enes, eight Counsel on each side were heard, and some of them from the King's Bench bar ;peke at great length. The Chancellor heel to read all the sffidavits; and in the case of " Senior v. Smith," eight Counsel were heard no one side, and there were ninety-six affidavits.— The business would really be better managed by two Counsel, than by a greater number ; foe where five or six were employed, via was itt the habit of depending on the other but two would - : fled it necessary to exert all their powere, when* . the inte reets of their. chants entirely depended on them. The junior were however, competneited by another arrangement: Until Lord Mansfield's time each senior Counsel at the King's Bench bar "lade all hips motions' before his junior was permitted to Maks a single one. So it frequently happened that a whole term peeved away without' affording the very junior' un oppor tunity of making a 11106011 at all. By a regulation.introduced ut the period to which fie alluded, each Counsel Was allostred to make only a single motion until time round of the whole (Bar was thus continuedat once Tiiorig iitoadthpiareetd.ieyei:f.teels ' e ui c o o lMe n k f in c it h al an l e t e h r e y ir ; lo u t t i o b n y s the regulation of the cateme...• '• Cour t • King', Bench was adopted,--se•sussers, t h e improvement of the and evidently to the advantage of j e n- Wore. very Gentleman is the pr o f ess i on knew the extreme dire faculties in giving judgment, growing out of t h e voluminous docu ments and lengthened evidence, exhibited in Chancery causes. - He would appeal with' confidence on this point, to a very com petent authority on this head, the Hon. and Learned Member for Peterborough. In order to meet this particular inconveni ence, it was recommended by the Repoit to appoint a Court, consisting of Commissioners, who should, on a view of the evk dence, decide - what cases ought or ought not to be heard before ' the Lord Chancellor, and proceed to determine upon the latter, so-as to save much of the time of the Lord Chancellor and Tice .Chancellor. He should endeavour to explain how this would save time also to suitors. The 'Vice-Chancellor now heard all Petitions in the first instance. The arrears, however, of causes in this Court were, contrary to the extremely oeerwrougbt and exaggerated statements Wade again and email in that House, inconsiderable. Owing to the illness some time ego of the Master of the Rolls, there had occurred an arrear of seven' terms this increase, how ever, was .to be charged to that Learned Judge's indisposition, solely. • . Eighteen months however had hardly elapsed before the -activity of that Learned Judge had reduced the arrear to that orfeur terms, which did not much exceed, if it exceeded at all, the ericar in the Court of King's Ilench.-1-.(llear.) He thought, too, that from the manner in which business . was trarsaeted and expedited in that Court, that the state of the causes in that Court would be quickly restored ' to the same con dition as it had been in pre sta vio te u i s n l e y nt to s t t l i t i e e), delays experienced by suitors in the illn ess haci o all S l ir iLed Pin t m o e i r i; l Ah o ta.t r te d ri c ito e hu a e T c e : r lE ti C iit'll o ga u r r tyl i i , e they would be surprised to find that the return of the Register made out a list of but 109 causes. Now the Report of the Commissioners had formerly stated, that in' the Easter Term of 1822 there were 105, so that in 1822, and at the present day, their numbers were substantively the same. These too would shortly disappear, were the Lord Chancellor permitted to devote his. attention to this sort of causes alone.— And here be must say he, would wish the House were acquainted with the ceaseless assiduity and laborious life of ,the Noble Lord presiding in that Court. 'Whilst - occupied, however, in endea vouring to reduce the causes on the paper, motions were con stantly being made on subjects which required a suspension of the business of the Court, and pressed for an immediate hearing, or else the object of this motion itself would be lost. As in cases of an appeal against a decree, : which decree, if carried into effect, would be the means of destroying or injuring the property wait ing adjudication. . It wonitt be said how was the Lord Chancellor to be guided as to causes which should have a preference of being heard by himself instead of by the Commissioners. The deter minaton of that point would turn on the answer given by the perty to his Lordship, when he appealed to them to say how the cause should be determined. If they as gentlemen told him that unless the cause be taken chit of the usual way injury would arise of a serious nature, then the cause would he taken up by his Lordship in the same way as in cases of injunction, or 'cases of lunacy, which required immediate interference. The subject now brought him to the next head, that of Bankruptcies, in which there wes no arrear, nor Was there any arrear in the mo tions. Indeed there was no arrear except on the paper of causes, as it was termed. The House and the Profession, and, above all, the Public, were interested in del:idl ' s a system Which would prevent the inc rease o f arrear , an d of course the Report of the Counniasioners was not silent on this subject; and they were all anxious to apply a remedy to the Court of the Lord Chancellor. All that could be &me in saving the time of the Court would tend to lesson the arrear of business ; the Com missioners recommended strongly a diminution of the time now taken up in the proceedings, and a restriction as to the number of Counsel permitted to address the Court, as well as shortening the proceedings in cased of bankruptcy. Now when all these might be applied safely by the Bill, he thought something very important might be effected in reducing tini number of CAWS, and that we should get to that much desired . point,: that a cause shall be heard, when once set down, within a reasonable time. Adverting next to the point of abridging the costs of a suit, much good would result from adopting the system of the Conunissioners, as well as with respect to the diminution of arrears. The language of the Report itself slid net promise much but was sufficiently guarded ; they did not say we have done nil, but we have done all that we thought to be expedient. However all tended to save time and expellee to the suitors in this Court. When the public felt by the prac tical working of the system that, notwithstanding the passing of the Bill, there was still something to reform or correct, the road would be cleared by the present Bill to introduce further improve ment. Hence he was encouraged to expect the House would not refuse its assent to permit him to introduce the Bill for effecting the measures recommended by the Conunissioners for the Refor mation of Abuses in the Court of Chancery. In making this motion, although when the subject bad been before touched on A very different line of conduct had been pursued, he had studiously abstained from making any personal allusion to parties connected with the subject. So far had he folloWed up this system that lie had even abstained from alluding to the Noble Ltird at the bead of the Court, and so well known for his great learning, talents, respectability; and this delicacy be felt called on to observe, because he was applying his observations to a system, and not to individuals.—(Hear !)—He was the more in duced to do this front the reflection that he could add nothing to the testimony that had already been borne by many in that House of very opposite political feelings to the character of the Noble Lord. Recollecting the just compliment paid to that Noble and Learned Person by the Hon. Member for Caine, as to the sound ness of Lis judgment, his stout 'sense of justice, general benevolence, and vast memory, ho should make no attempt to follow so compe tent an'ettlogist. He had also read (for Olathe was not present) the character which had been given of the Noble Lord by one emi meetly calculated to give an opinion on the qualities which went to form a great equity judge; and though he had been constantly and almost bitterly opposed in politica to the Noble Lord, he had most unequivocally expressed himself in his praise, and de clared that he had never seen any man more fit to sit in that high seat of justice, or met a judge who displayed more anxiety to do justice to the suitors in his Court. To such an eulogium he could add little. The Noble Lord had been now fifty years in a profession in which he had by his talents been singled and pointed out as if then designated for the high and important situation in his profession which he now filled. That expectation hail not been deceived, and it was also due, to the Noble Lord to add, that he was a most assidious and attentive Member on that Committee, and that no one was more disposed to devise a remedy for the defects and errors of that Court. He should, after thanking the House fur its patient attention through a detailed statement of the measure, conclude, by moving " fur leave to bring in a Bill. for carrying into effect the measures recommended by the Com missioners."—(Loud cheers.) I Mr. JOHN WILLIAMS professed that he should not attempt to follow his Honourable and Learned Friend in his clear volumi nous statements; be must observe, however, that in all the very wide range that Honourable Gentleman bed taken he bad afforded the House no view of the object of his Hill. After all the gor geous panegyric which his Hun. and Learned Friend had pro nounced on the Commissioners in this ease, he.must remind him that all the merit of originating this inquiry rested with the Mu. Member for Durham, who had more than once detailed his plan to an unwilling audience within those walls. There was, it ap peered from the testitoony of a great lawyer and orator of anti quity, something inherent in the legal profession, which blinded men in other respects acute to its errors and defects. Cicero, who was himself both orator ,and lawyer, placed but • little stream on the latter acquirement, as appeared from his saying it WM pos.. Bible to be a lawyer in three days, spoke of the professional failure pretty roundly when he said— " Ingenio jurisconsultorum depravata aunt orania," Such seemed to be the character of certain lawyers in the present time. He had nothing to convince him that much, either in re spect to time or ex pence, would be saved to the suitors by this lung_ meditated Bill. The opinions of Mr. Bell were of course in &your of a Court to which he owed all his fortune and his fame, and yet he admitted that much might he done by the Judges themselves to alter the rules and practice on their own responsibility as experience shall dictate. indeed the conduct of that great man, Lord Bacon; might have served as a stimulus and encouragement in this respect 'to the Noble Lord now presiding in Chancery. For himself, he was in doubt whether any beneficial results would he found to arise from the Bill. Against one thing he must remonstrate, namely, the assertion that the Commissioners had thrown their arms wide open to complaint, that no man was turned away who had any thing to complain of, a n d that the whole Profession was invited., Now h e believed that neither to the two Inns of Court mast frequented by Attoruies, nor the Metropolitan La* So.: ciety, had any notice been sent of this Giumnission being Sit- tiug, or any invitation for complaints to be offered. In fti - ct, he had heard that no one came except those who were summoned; and that -no volunteer was permitted to. obtrude on the Commis sion. On another subject, namely, that of injunction, which furnished a specific grog of loud complaint to the people of En ;land, it was intended t o a b ridge t h e d e l a y s in c id en t a l t o t hi s form of proceeding. N ow t h e case o f i n junction tended to sus pend a suitor from obtaining th e fruits of, his judgment an d execution in a suit at . Comirion •Law. The result of this in tet ference was, that a suitor was rendered amenable to two dif ferent sets of law, alt oget h er differ i ng in principle, and this arbitrary interference or i g i nated w i t h ' a J u dge who h a d no previous knowledge of th a facts proved 'in the Court of La w . —The Commissioners had left, , tkeir • Report imperfect and unsatisfactory. They s h ou ld have ascerta i n ed *A 4 1 101110 of the pressure, and then the House might have judged of the pro priety of dividing the jurisdiction, with a view to get rid of the delay which was the obloquy of the Court. Had they inquired how many cases were waiting for judgment, in order to ascertain whether by dividing the business, by withdraw ing the jurisdiction in Bankruptcy, or by any other means, it might be possible to abate the evil ? No such thing. Parlia ment and the people were kept in the dark with respect to this crying gievance. This period of a cause was the longest and the most expensive. He had quoted one case in that House where 1,0001. had been expended between the hearing and the judg ment, and another which had cost 3001. merely for attendances to hear judgment. The Hon. Member for Maltnesbury had vo lunteered his evidence upon this head, and he called • upon him to say with what facility, or with what kind of welcome, he had been received. The digestion of the house was so strong, that it would swalloW any thing, provided only it was 'presented from *the right quarter. Since.lBo6..his Hon. Friend and himself had been struggling in vain. They had always been turned round by a denial of the existence of abuses or delays. Ile admired the dexterity of his Hon. and Learned Friend, who had cautiously avoided to travel into this, which he would call the nakedness of the land ; not one word had ht Uttered upon that dreary stage of a cause between the hearing and the judgment. If they turned to page 453 of the Report, they would seem the evidence of the Hon. Member for Malmesbury, an admirable commentary on the gor geous declamation, and magnificent panegyric, with which his Hon. and Learned Friend had pourtrayed the Lord Chancellor. He would mention the particulars of the cause there cited. There had been anorder to pay into Court the amount of a debt. The Register not having made a minute, denied that such an order had been made. A new'application to the Court became nectstsary. This application was made in March, 1817, When the Chancellor took home the papers, in order to qualify himself to say whether such en order had or had not been made. In November, 1820, three years and a half afterwards, the cause had made no advance, when a letter was written to the Lord Chancellor, by the Hon. Member, in reply to which the Chancellor promised his judgment on the Saturday following; an application for judgment was afterwards made in vain by Counsel, and at last the plaintiff, worn out by delays, set the cause down for hearing before the Vice-Chancellor, who ordered the money to he paid into Court, with interest at the rate of twelve per cent., the usual interest in India. The defendant then turned back to the order of the Lord Chancellor, of March, 1817, and contended, that as the money ought to have been in Court from that time, five per cent. was the proper in terest. The rate of interest was accordingly reduced, the last 'order having been found again for that purpose. Thus his client was, after a lapse of five years and a half, compelled to submit to a loss of five or six hundred pounds. The lion. and Learned Member then referred to another case, mentioned in the evidence of the Hon. Member for Malineshury, of similar delays. But these, said the Hon. and Learned Member, are individual cases— it is all imagination, there is no delay! " Individual cases, in deed ! I suppose we ought to produce a rule."• The lion. and Learned Member then alluded to the case of Mr. Wellings, the banker, of Ludlow, who had 82,0001. depending upon the issue of a Chancery suit, and who, after a.personal application to the Chancellor, and promises of an immediate decision, had become a bankrupt in consequence of delay. Ile mentioned also the awe of a windmill which had tumbled down whilst his Learned Friend was trying to get a decision. It was an appeal from the Rolls, and after it had been depending thirteen years, and 1,5001. had been expended, the plaintiff died in the poor house of Kensing ton, of which parish he had formerly been a respectable inha bitant. The Hon. and Learned Member mentioned one or two other cases in which parties had been driven to compromise their rights in consequence of the impossibility of obtaining a deci sion. lie had said enough to convince the House, that it was the duty of the Commissioners to ascertain the magnitude of the evil, and to decide whether a new jurisdiction should be created, or whether the present machinery should be left in action. He should now direct the attention of the . House to one mode adopted for preventing delay in the administra tion of justice, a mode which, it must be allowed, was as well calculated as the Bill of the Attorney-General to put an end to complaints of delay. It was related in De Thou's remarks on Ecclesiastical History, during the reign of Theodoric. A woman of quality, having had a suit against a senator pending for three years without any chance of obtaining a decision, (How unreasonable this lady must have been, to complain of a delay of only three years!) she applied to Theodoric, who" sent for the Judges-before whom the cause was pending, and told them if they did not pronounce judgment within a reasonable time he would put them to death. The Judges immediately proceeded to hear the cause, and in two days they pronounced judgment against the senator. The woman waited upon Theodoric, and returned hint thaukft, and he having sent for the Judges, and stated that they had acted wrong in postponing for the space of three years a cause which they might have disposed of in two days, or dered them as an example to others, to be put to death, and thus (added the narrator) was an end put to delays.—(Loud laughter.) lie did not mean to say that . such a mode of proceeding would he proper in this country, regard being had to . the venerable age of the Noble Lord, and he (Mr. J. W.) would be the last to re commend any such thing.—(Continued laughter.)—lie would infinitely rather leave the Noble Lord to the Commissioners, of whom that Noble Lord was the head. He was eure those Co m i ss i oner s would not, any more than himself (Mr. W.) hurt a hair of the Noble Lord's head. He was sure the i ir i ngs i Trewildn and milky nature would not touch a feather of th e pl ume of his pa tronage, authority, and high station. Th e i r l a b ours a b r i dgedneme of the patronage or authority of th e N o bl e L or d, b ut, on the con trary, they gave him more patronage in the nomi nat i on of n e w officers ; never ending cases, patronage, and new beginnings the order of the day. Although he would not say that the mea sure introduced by the Attorney-General was not advisable,_ he would say that the two branches of inquiry, to which he had be fore called the attention of the House, ought to have been gone into; and, in the absence of information upon those two branches, the House could form no accurate judgment; and giving credit to the lion. and Learned Gentleman, for the purity of his intentions, he must say that the House, if they should, under present circum stances, legislate upon the subject, would be legislating in the dark. —(Hear, bear.) The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said, that the duty of the Com missioners had been to inquire into the practice of the Court, and that duty they had assiduously discharged. lie had listened to find from the speech of his lion. and Learned Friend how they had neglected their 'duty, and he had listened in vain. The Commissioners bud thrown open the dot r for the reception of evidence, and every Barrister and every Solicitor was invited to ,furnish. information. The Hon. and Learned Gentleman had said, that some Solicitors ought to have: been included the Commission. There was no precedent for including Solicitors in such a Com mission. Several Solicitors had attended and given evidence, and amongst them a Gentleman, Mr. Lowe, whose name was, he be lieved, not entirely unknown to his lion. and Learned Friend.— If the Commissioners had interposed any obstructions to evidence they would have violated their duty, and. he hoped every one of them who was a Member of that House would rise and say that they hail fully discharged it. It was impossible to answer every particular case without previous notice; but On two of the CM'S to which the Hon. and . Learned Gentleman had referred he had been Counsel, and in respect to those cases he could give a satisfactory answer. In one of them the Coun sel bad never been instructed to move for judgment, because the cause was compromised ; and, in the other, the delay had arisen from his own management of the cause, with aview to the inte rs* of his client. In the cases cited from the evidence of the Hon. Member for Mahnesbury, it dill not appear that he had ever instructed Counsel to move for judgment. and therefore the Court was entitled to presume that a compromise had been effected be tween the parties. Of the other cases he knew nothing, but he bad no doubt they would admit of an equally direct justification. Of all the Petitions which had been presented to that House, he never knew one but what was founded in error—or, he would rather say, in gross calumny. To give an instance, the Hon: Member for hull had presented a petition from a . person of the mine of Garland. Ile had taken the pains to investigate the case of this person, and he found that his conduct had been one tissue of fraud. lie had acted in the capacity of solicitor for both par ties; and his complaint - to the House was, that his bill had been re-taxed, having been taxed 12 years before. The fact was, that it had not bee taxed. This Petition assorted itself with all the other Petitions which had given rise to so much undue warmth of language ill that House. The lion. and Learned Member for Lin.: coin had this night divested the subject of some of its usual asps, •rity, by referring to 'historical precedents, which it might not, 'however, be found very convenient to follow. The petition present ed by the lion. Member fiir-I lull had been warmly supported by the Hon. Member for ' Montrose, but he had no doubt that th e latter Gentleman, who had recently. moved forty-seven econo mical r eso l u ti ons in the finances of the country, would unite with him in applauding the Lord Chancellor for ordering a Solicitor's bill to h e taxed which had not previously undergone that neces aa _ ry process. ne would egad mo d e s of abridging time a nd wavingexpend,. expen d , as muc h as c.y show that the Commissioners h a d g a mendments in the practi co o f the Qturt.could safely be attempted in the fi rst ins tance. It had been as k e d why Lord Eldon hitnse lf had not b y virtue of his own authority necessary made th e The answer to thi s was eas y . The rules had ofthhaConceuritiorg B been in existence since the time of Cromwell, and Lord. Eldon had only ut ttboeshliaonre.thaeadbluaramensevditch eantliie,inagansuhccadetionadfn Of furnished a good ewer to his own question. Lord Reciesdale, a very high authority upon such subjects, objected to the peoposed alterations. Other law yers also objected to them, If Lord Eldon, therefore; had adopted them upon his own authority, would he not have been deemed B bold innovator, and would not every subsequent delay or init.. chief have been ascribed to him ? If he had erred, he had erred in common with a long string of illustrious predecessors, from Lord Clarendon downwards. No considerable alterations Ind ever been made in the practice of the Courts of Law, other wise than by the Act of the Legislature, although there was not one alteration out of twenty but what might have been effected by the authority of the Judges. The Hon. and Learned Gentle man then proceeded to point out the improvements which the. Commissioners had recommended. The saving of time would in every cause be a year. In litigation causes it would be a year and a half, two years, or still wore. Of 186 resolusions, the 'Hon. and Learned Gentleman had not pointed out one as objec tionable. He knew that the profession generally, both barristers and solicitors, approved of the great body of the resolutions. The Master would by the proposed regulations, have the power of re ferring matters of account, where the parties consented to a pri vate arbitrator, and he would also have the power of consenting to this arrangement in behalf of minors, married women, and in• competent persona. Another of the new regulations was, that depositions should henceforth be Liken by barristers, which would obviate many of the inconveniences arising from the pre - sent anode of taking them. It was provided also that an exe cutor or trustee might take the opinion of the Court upon role detached part of a will or deed, without throwing the whole ad ministration of the property into its hands. Thus they wends be enabled to obtain all they wanted from the Court without being compelled to take more. In the case of injunction bins, ea affidavit was now to be filed, that the injunction was not s ought for the purpose of delay. The lion. and Learned GentielDan made light of this barrier to improper applications; but be ought to recollect that an oath wile the strongest guarantee upon which the administration of justice, in all its departments, could de pend. With respect to appeals from the other Equity C o urts, the parties were now to have the choice of appealing to the Lord Chancellor or to the House of I.ords ; but they were not, as here tofore, to have the privilege of appealing successively to both.-- These several alterations had been adopted in pursuance of sug gestions from the other side of the House. It would be hard, in deed, if they were to be stigmatized because the Coninais , iener s were not unanimous. His Majesty's Opposition themselves were not unanimous. After the decree, it wee formerly Optional oith the parties to proceed or to s tand still. The Master wa s to l entrusted with the power of compelling parties- to he six weeks, and was himself to be responsible for any further delay, This was a totally new principle which they had introduced. hail thus glanced at the principal alterations. , The lion. Mg' tleman said, so far as related to leatikraptcy, the existing taw" The that the Commissioners did not act as a subordinate Court &editors did not go to lay before them the facts, mid then wit their opinion on them ; but they only went to the Commiesiolie° as a passport to the Lord Chancellor. They did not exercise so t appellant jurisdiction, but he (the Lord Chancellor) was the I, person who was sought out to decide the case. The resolutions came to by the Commissioners as to this point was, that the en diens should state their case fully to the Connnissioners , arid ba ing so done, should have judgment given on it by the Cornel sioners. If this resolution was adopted, 19 out of 20 of these proceed after petitions would no longer be preferred to the Court, there beings' subordinate forum so constituted as to be perfectly competent to decide cases of this description. The Commissioner, bad taken up every subject of the practice of the Court to which they thought improvement might be applied, and had ogre"' us every subject a limited degree of improvement. Mr. A. TAYLOR begged the House to refe r to the e vi " deuce of M r . Shadwell, a man of great intellect and acute eons, standing almost at the head of the Court of Chancery. ITY °D question being put to him as to whether the Judges of the ('"'le t were sufficient fur the duty, he bad answered that three angels would not be sufficient to do the business of the Court of Cluinc!re. He had been present twice on a Committee relating to this subj o ee . ti and he was of o pi n i on , an d a l wa y s h a d b e en, that some st e p" sh be taken to rid th e G reat S ea l o f th e burthen at present in pore upon it. He would onlyask whether the Chancellor did the bus]- , ness of the Court, except in matters of appeal an d bankrup tcy' whether h e ever heard original causes? It bad been said, a snee had a right to the opinion of the Great Seal. H ow did he no w Pt it—why , th rough another Court, and at an additional opener. But if the Commissioners had said you shall be e xcluded from any appeal either from the Master of the Rolls or the Vice- ?: cellos', that wo u ld b e a mo d e o f ge tti n g rid of a grea t deal h ave el a Court sitti ng i n d epen d ent o f po li t i es ] od penes and d e l ay . H e (\l r. T ay l or ) wou ld say, you o u g ht to some steps ought to be taken in order dust the Judge . _ 113 ; 1 ! 1 g . for the despatch of the business of th e Court alight oot curbed by being taken from his I duties, regu er b e t that be should the Courts sit de die in diem to do the regular business of bathe (Hear, hear.)—He did not blame Lord Eldon for the delay, considered every man had a right to state his sentimentli ,N e ar ' whether theconduct of J u d g e right or wrong.--et sued a was T oo hear•)--Did. the Attorney-General main to endeavour mini powers ol d iteluencee. the House believe that the fortunes of children were notbel wild taken away from them in the Court of Chancery., el t what proceedings which had been so long in practice . pray the proceedings of the Court of Chancery weree " be ' a n it tised in that Court for fourteen years, and now' sal of a sae , c eral was found out that the sy s tem was bad, and the A ttorney-te had call e d th em a ll f anc i e d a b use s. The public were," th e „Y ro e to he, indignant at the emotes practised in that Court, sow' Commissioners might in part endeavour to reme dy, but to w b lah u „ no e ff ectual remedy c o u ld ever be applied. lie (M r. T.) W leef venture to say, that men would not be satisfied by the deeie' r °° ,,. e the three Commissio ne rs the Chancellor might app oint fo hearing of Bankruptcy cases. There would be an appeal , be Lord Chancellor di rec tly, an d not a moment cf his time woul d saved. He did not know what would be done when Lord Elder': in the common course of nature, wtiuld be no m ore. ', r u i h ' s posed then we were to have no man to sit in ItankrupteY . Coot Commissioners directed to inquire into the Abuses of the tice. . of Chancery had not attended to that which his Majesty Pr ea, larly direct e d their attention to, namely, whether the Court tie so constituted as to b e able to perform all its functions • tih,, thought the Commissioners had not gone far enoush-- - t h ' d Report had d o n e some small degree of good, but the gr e3t ' they might have done was left untouched. • te liate Mr. Secretary PEEL could not help thinking the uniu question before the House was a very simple one. It wee M e ." Y to bring i n . 11 . whether the Attorney-General should be permitted Rill for the purpose of adopting the recouiniendatious of the C 4 ll e missioners, which required the intervention of the Legislat ure ' , • thought the lion. Member had not dealt fairly with this WWI h ite he was enabled to chew some inetances in wich his lion . Friend had not dealt with the Report with that candour with which usually dealt with all subjects. It bail been stated that a daisy f fifty years was a common occurrence in the Court of ChaneerY.--- The Report stated that there had been a populairnisunden dandi l as to the meaning of the delay in many cases. In all cases of 3 90 ministration of trusts there necessarily must be a delay. Ju t% where infants were only one or two years old, the suits whde°l-- volved the administration of a trust must last for twenty real'. and beneficially for the interest of the person on whose behalf /Wu suit had beets instituted. The Report stateil there might ec es i r; taro cases in which a suit might last for twenty years, am l e y et et y -no reflection on the Court of Chancery. As to the haui‘ ru r . . c t e business, his lion. Friend had produced the opinion of one 5 " 1 „ , nese ; but he did not seem to recollect that it a ppeared., fit the Report that almost every other witness was of a aiw -- „ opinion. Mr. Shadwell, in proposing, such a measure as ‘! stated by his Learned Friend, found it necessary to r ec°°3 r e mi l s ll - that a Court should be constituted consisting of four or live rnissionere for the purpose of managing the business r eleting eri ° bankruptcy. Hi s H onoura bl e F r i en d h a d sa id the Comm had not gon e f ar enoug h, b ut h e did no t c omplain of t he e ' d rence which wa s ma d e w h et h er arty of the business eow . transferred from the Court. A no ther complaint preferred ag°,l,"" 11 "; them was that th e y h ai l gone a great deal too far. Now 60" this report did not give satisfaction, hie, Mr. Peel's inferetuo war that it had steered wisely and cautioualy between the tw o e ! trernos ; not bei ng fearful of proposing useful alteratiens bine the busin ess o f the Court, but on the other band leaving for t.t. width. consideration of the House, with perfect candour, that Wog deemed absolutely necessary, even though it might extrusive innovations on the Commissiouers. He must sa y _` . l 4 ° Person, however great respect he might entertain for the Le o Chancellor, could complain in the slightest degre e °f h i d manner in which the Learned Gentlemen opposit e _. r e 'teled their opinions on the subject. His Honourable he seemed to have taken a different view of the subject now than had thine on a fernier oecasion. The last time t his matter ws a pr o f before the House he complained of 'the number of unr then submitted, which were so numerous as to reader it its I!"_ , • sible to comprehend the Report,. In his s p e ech to-night be end complained that Revere' important subjects had b een omitted ,. old tneu if all thine subjects b a d been enumerated, the R e p ort won t the have swelled to an enormons bulk. As to the c harge aRA i OUld Chancellor by his delay in p ron ouncing his decis io ns, be w beg his friend' to read the evidence o f Mr. Basil lefontagea who stated he believed no two men existed on t he face of the earth , tna differed so muc h on politecel sub' es •SOhe ( • Mr * • Montagu) the . • the Lord Ch ance ll or . lie stated that there were delays in imput ed t he ry ho could Court of Ch ance not 'd e ny;. b u t he not